SpaceX tweeted a photo of Starman's location along with the caption, "Next stop, the restaurant at the end of the universe," a reference to the second book in the "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series written by Douglas Adams.

The car's current trajectory will take it into the asteroid belt in its planned orbit around the sun, according to a diagram tweeted by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk earlier this year. But scientists say it is unlikely the car will encounter anything beyond ultraviolet radiation, cosmic rays, other highly charged particles or an occasional micrometeoroid.

As a result, ongoing exposure to UV light will cause the car's paint to fade over time, just as cars here on Earth do.

Starman and the Tesla have been on a steady course away from Earth since they were included as the payload during a successful test of SpaceX's rocket designed to hoist satellites and equipment into space.